Please don't leave us, leave me
by Hawiian Ryan
Summary: UPDATE: Sorry for the hiatus. It's not as long as I wanted but I'm getting back into the swing of writing. Sam has to say goodbye, is Six ready to let him? Six/Sam and Four/Sarah others mentioned or hinted at.
1. Chapter 1

It had been over an hour since leaving Paradise behind and all that Sam had to occupy himself was staring at the beautiful girl on the cherry red Ducati in front of them, and listening to the Country station John had flicked on. Sam had a distaste for Country, he was a Classic Rock guy.

"So..." Sam voiced to his friend, trying to break the conversation silence. He received a quick glance in recognition and decided it was enough to continue. "You miss her already huh?"

"Yeah." John replied tersely. Clearly he was brooding over Sarah and didn't really want to talk about it.

"Are you...gonna be okay?"

"No."

"You're a joy to talk to...why don't we bro out or something, talk to me about her, it might help."

Sighing, John glanced again at his best friend who had on a disarming smile, and sighed again. He knew Sam just wanted to help, or at least feel like he was helping, but he didn't want to talk to Sam, he wanted to talk to Sarah. To touch her, hold her, kiss her just one last time, and then another time, and another, and never get in this damn truck leaving her, and-

"Dude if you're going to keep ignoring me then I'm picking the radio station because I don't even think you're listening to it." Sam said, losing Johns train of thought.

"Driver picks radio station guy." John replied with a small smile, maybe talking was what he should be doing after all, he was already feeling a little better with just these few words.

"Driver's also being a dick." mumbled Sam as he propped his elbow on the door and went back to staring outside.

John cracked a wider smile as he looked again at his sarcastic friend. Sam was staring out the windshield as they drove, eyes not really moving across the landscape.

"Let's talk about Six then, since you want to 'bro out'." John piped up, receiving a startled expression from Sam.

"What?"

"Six! Come on man, you have been staring at her ass for like the past hour."

"Well that's not a really fair analysis," Sam sputtered, "First off it's like the only part of her body you can see while she's on her bike, and second, you haven't been talking so I've just been zoning out."

"Zoning out...is that what you call it when you stare at Six like a love struck cow."

"What does that metaphor even mean?" demanded Sam defensively, "And I am not staring." he added hotly.

"Are you pouting? Don't pout." teased John, this really was making him feel better!

"I am not pouting!" Sam nearly shouted, "Pissin' me off!"

"Hey man, I'm clearly just givin' you shit, don't be so defensive."

Sam had gone a soft shade of pink in his cheeks and his face felt warm, he had not been 'just' staring at Six, he was way more inconspicuous than that, wasn't he?

"John," Sam resumed the conversation after a few moments of silence, "Do you think Six has noticed?"

"Do you want the truth?" John asked questioningly.

"No I want you to lie." an exasperated Sam retored.

"She has no clue, in fact neither do I. You have played it so cool that no one has any idea that you have the hotts for Six." John replied with a wide grin, watching his friends face grow more and more red with each word.

"Hey I'm not friggin good at this stuff like you so...shut up." Sam muttered as he took refuge by the window, staring at the farming fields as they zipped past.

"Oh come on I thought we were 'bro'ing out! Talkin' about chicks and stuff." John said, slapping Sam in the shoulder. He hadn't meant for Sam to get all self-conscious.

"Look," Sam replied as he turned back to John, ears still pink, "I want to honestly help you out with missing Sarah, not make fun of me for my ridiculous daydreams."

John immediately became serious, "I don't think it's ridiculous at all, you falling for Six. I mean she's really pretty-

"Way out of my league." Sam interrupted.

"Knows exactly who she is-" John forced through the interruption.

"Hard-headed."

"Cold blooded-"

"Not exactly a positive trait."

"And loves picking on you!"

"Why did that make the list?" Sam asked laughing, arms spread wide.

"Because that's a conversation starter man!" John laughed along, slapping Sam in the shoulder again, "Just make fun of yourself around her, boom, instant conversation."

"Just make fun of myself around her?" Sam said still laughing, placing his fingers on his forehead, "What? You're the worst at this! Stop giving me advice!"

John couldn't help it, he burst out harder with laughter, slapping the steering wheel with an open hand while looking at his friend, all signs of irritation gone.

"Why are you laughing?!" Sam continued, smiling, "It's terrible advice!"

The laughter died down and John drove in silence as Sam gazed out the window, going out of his way not to look at Six. John bit his lip as he glanced at Sam. He hadn't meant to beat down his friends self-esteem but, slumping in his seat, Sam simply looked defeated.

"Look Sam, I'm in your camp on this one, but I can't really help. I know nothing about girls, and less about Six," John explained to a forlorn looking Sam, "I just got lucky so...maybe you will too." he ended lamely. It wasn't much of a confidence booster.

"Thanks for that very encouraging speech," Sam said, echoing Johns thoughts, "In all reality I will probably do...nothing," he muttered as he slouched a little more against the window, "She'd never go for me anyways."

Not knowing what to say, John continued to drive in silence.

* * *

The cherry red Ducati bucked a little as Six roughly dropped the clutch, causing her to audibly growl in irritation. She was livid at John! Why the hell would he bring his pathetic, puppy dog human with him? Sam! His stupid hair and stupid jokes and stupid laugh and stupid smile and stupid eyes and stupid lips...where was she going with this? Shaking her head lightly she got back to the point, fuming at John for bringing his lame friend on the most important mission of their lives.

_He's not so bad_, a little voice called from deep in her mind, _he did save your life while putting risk to his own._ Growling again she pushed that little voice deep, deep down in her mind and covered it with anger.

No matter how hard she concentrated on the road, the memory of Sam pulling her to safety kept bubbling up in her mind. _She was regaining consciousness and opened her eyes to be greeted by an arid, smokey wasteland, fire scorching the landscape everywhere she looked. She was being dragged away from danger by a pair of strong hands gripping her tattered jacket. Her head was ringing so loud she was surprised she could hear anything else and her vision was showing her two of everything. Six tried to move her arms but all she could muster was a weak twitch, causing searing pain to radiate up into her shoulder, a small whimper escaping her lips before she could fight it._

_ "Shh it's okay, don't move yet let me patch you up," a low voice murmured behind her, "so you can get back to kicking some ass."_

_ She tried to respond but it came out as an incoherent mumble as her head continued to ring. Abruptly they stopped and she was gently leaned against a cool, smooth surface. Six closed her eyes and rested her head against the surface, trying to shut out the ringing._

_ "John," she managed to finally say, "don't risk yourself, get out of here! I'm fine."_

_ Six heard a crunch of gravel in front of her and suddenly there was a soft hand cupping her chin._

_ "Not John," said the voice from right in front of her and Six's breath caught in her throat as a chill shot through her body._

_**There is no way this weak, scrawny human is..**__ Six thought as she slowly opened her eyes, but there he was, Sam. Six sat there with a dumb-struck look as her vision began to sharpen on Sam's concern painted face. He locked eyes with her and Six felt an electric jolt course through her as his hand moved from her chin to her cheek, wiping something from under her eye with his thumb._

_ Six blinked as her vision cleared and she really looked at him. His short black hair lightly swaying in the wind topped his soot streaked face, numerous small cuts painting his cheeks and forehead. Blood dripped down his cheek passing through several dirt smudges and his deep green eyes were full of worry. He was beautiful._

Suddenly lurched back to reality, Six was startled to realize that John, Sam and the truck were not behind her but driving along beside her.

"EARTH TO SIX...OR LORIEN...WHATEVER...SIIIIIIX!" Sam was shouting from his open window.

Six turned to give him a vicious look she was sure he couldn't see through her sunglasses and Sam took the movement to mean she had finally heard him.

"HEY YOU MISSED OUR EXIT, SO JUST TAKE THE NEXT ONE AND WE CAN FIND A MOTEL, IT'S STARTING TO GET..." Sam continued to shout but once Six heard to take the next exit she down shifted and gunned the engine, not wanting to hear the confusing boy's voice anymore.

* * *

"Okay I guess she heard me," Sam sighed as he rolled back up his window, "and she wasn't completely rude, right?"

"You know she was probably giving you daggers behind those glasses..." John replied to his friend, grinning.

"Totally." agreed Sam.

"By the way, Lorien to Six, gosh that was funny, how are you so funny?" John mocked as Sam's ears turned a light shade of scarlet. "You must get all the ladies."

"Your sarcasm is oh so appreciated but we are on a super serious mission so let's stow the mockery and concentrate." Sam said seriously, a small smile creeping onto his face.

"Ahh I knew you were a good sport," John joked along as he eased the truck to the right, following Six onto the off ramp, "I really can't wait to see what happens when we stop."

"I'm sure whatever it is will be extremely hilarious," Sam said, staring at Six through the windshield, "for you."


	2. Chapter 2

"Yeah we are just pulling onto the Motel 6 now, yes they left the light on for us." John said into the cellphone he had pressed to his ear, rolling his eyes at Sam. "Yes Love, we are going to get rooms here for the night and figure out our next move, that's why we have the braniac with us. Oh I know I miss you too, I find myself just missing the smell of your hair...your soft lips-"

With a sigh, Sam roughly opened the truck door, not wanting to hear John cooing and being all 'lovey dovey' with Sarah. He was met with a cool breeze blowing gently across his face, bringing with it the smell of pine trees mixed a little with asphalt, probably due to that road construction just off the highway. His eyes roved, taking in fully his surroundings. The dimly lit parking lot at the Motel was hardly packed, only half a dozen or so cars dotted the lot, and only a sole light was on in any of the rooms, not surprising as it was a little past midnight. Sam briefly thought about running to the Seven Eleven across the street to grab a snack, he was famished, but his thought was interrupted as Six's voice knifed into his ear.

"Stop standing there and get our rooms." she said curtly as Sam turned his head to look at her.

Wavy blonde hair blowing in that slight breeze and olive skin slightly illuminated by the dim street lights, Six looked every bit as beautiful to Sam as she did when he first laid eyes on her. Wetting his lips he began to respond but she abruptly cut him off.

"Two rooms as far apart as you possibly can make them, I don't want to see you any more than I have to. John can enjoy your snoring, which I'm sure you do, loudly, since everything else about you is irritating." She said with a glare as she turned on her heel and walked away, tossing her motorcycle keys up and down to herself mid-stride.

_Well, at least she didn't hit me_, Sam thought to himself as he stood there in the open for a few more moments, following Six with his eyes. Her purposeful strides had quickly brought her to the two vending machines near the laundry room, where she was slightly bent over, studying the choices in drinks she had. Her hand slipping into each of her jeans pockets, producing a dollar bill. Sam was brought back to reality by the sound of John closing the truck door, still on the phone.

"Haha no I love you too okay? Okay I'll call before I go to bed. Love you!" John finished, thumbing the End Call button on his cellphone. Glancing at Sam and following his eyes to a very animated Six, John closed the distance to his friend and nudged him with his shoulder.

"Piss her off that bad, huh?"

"No I actually think the vending machine is going to catch the brunt of this one," Sam replied with a smile, "Same old stuff, irritating, doesn't want to see me, snoring. Yeah apparently I snore according to her." Sam clarified for a confused looking John. "Come on I have to grab us our rooms." He finished, walking towards the front office.

"You don't snore though, right?"  
"Not getting three rooms regardless." Sam called over his shoulder as he pulled on the door handle and entered the plain white office.

The bland office consisted of little more than a front desk area, which was empty, and a doorway leading to a room beyond. With no chair to sit and wait in, Sam contented himself with leaning against the desk as he glanced around the rest of the room. The white walls were devoid of decoration and the only window showed the direction he had just come from, squinting he saw John reach Six and was in the middle of saying something to her when Sam heard some commotion from the room through the open doorway.

"Just one second," a gruff voice called out, slightly muffled, "I'm coming."

Sam drummed his fingers on the surface of the desk until a shorter, balding man cam bustling from the back area, a small amount of sweat glistening on his forehead. His plaid shirt looked disheveled and the name tag reading 'Mark' was put on unevenly.

"Sorry it's so late Sir," Sam said as the man slid up to the counter, reaching underneath and pulling up a large clipboard, "I need two rooms please, on different sides of the parking lot if you can."

"That's an odd request," Mark said shooting a questioning look at Sam, "can I ask as to why you need that?"

Sam glanced back out the window at Six, who had seemed to have calmed down, and turned back to the man, who had a small, knowing smile on his face.

"Trouble with the young lady, or just don't want to hear them together later on tonight?" Mark guessed.

"Not really trouble, she just wants to avoid my face as much as possible. Me and her don't really get along well." Sam explained as Mark had already turned around, selected two different keys off the wall and placed them on the counter top.

"To be young again..." the old man sighed as he ripped a few pages off the clipboard, pointing to Sam on where to sign, "That will be 130$ a night for both of these rooms. Is that cash or card?"

"Cash." answered Sam with a grimace, not wanting to part with so much cash from just their first night on the road. Sam could already envision himself spending all of his savings on just food and shelter in a few weeks if this is how much it was going to cost every time. Accepting the cash, Mark handed Sam the two keys and bid him a goodnight, retiring to the room behind the front office once again. Glancing at the two keys, 105 and 139, Sam stuffed 139 into his coat pocket for him and John, deciding 109, which was closer to Six's motorcycle parking, would make her happiest.

Sam exited the office and quickly made his way across the parking lot, where it had started lightly raining, to where Six and John were taking shelter under the roof.

"We are all set," called Sam as he approached, tossing key 105 to Six which she snapped out of the air, "No luck with a drink?"

"Why the hell does a motel with like four guests have a machine that is out of Mountain Dew?" Six muttered as she shouldered past Sam towards her room, "and now it's raining to top everything off."

John and Sam stood motionless as they watched Six stomp down the walkway and violently slam her door shut. Sam dug their key out of his coat pocket, handing it to John.

"139? You didn't actually have to get us rooms so far apart." John complained, looking at the long walk in the rain.

"Deal with it, I'm going to run over to the gas station and get a snack, you want anything?" Sam responded, taking a few steps into the rain.

"Yeah go ahead and grab another Mountain Dew, I'd like one too." John said with a grin as he glanced at Six's door then back to a slightly embarrassed Sam.

"I'm not just going to get her a drink, I'm starving too." replied Sam, making a face at John.

"Uh-huh, whatever, I'll leave it unlocked, I'm going to be in the shower."

Sam nodded to John and took off at a light jog, placing his hood over his head to block out some of the rain. The gas station wasn't far, only a quarter of a mile or so further down the street which Sam reached after just a few minutes. An audible ringing greeted him as he pulled the door open and entered the building. Wasting no time he made his way to the soda, grabbing two Mountain Dew's and a Dr. Pepper. Then he methodically prowled through the snack isles, grabbing gummy bears, some Salt and Vinegar chips, and a Hershey bar. He spilled the contents of his arms on the counter, slapped a crumpled 20$ bill down, and hurried back to the Motel 6 with two bags in hand.

The rain had started to pick up and by the time Sam made it back to the cover of the motel's overhanging roof, he was already soaked, feeling a squish of water in his shoes with every step. He made sure the bag in his right hand had both a Mountain Dew and gummy bears and gently tapped his foot into Six's door.

"I don't want to see your face Sam." came a voice from the other side and Sam smiled to himself, even when she was being totally mean, simply hearing her voice sent his blood boiling.

Hanging the bag off the doorknob, Sam gave a light knock again, whit his hand this time, then immediately started making his way down the walk way to his room. If she didn't want to see him he wasn't about to give her any more reason to strike him today. "Goodnight Six." he whispered to himself as he made his way past the vending machines and to room 139, the door slightly ajar. Glancing back across the parking lot he saw the bag missing from Six's door and he smiled again, shutting his door behind him.

"Hurry up in the shower John, I'm cold!" Sam yelled in the direction of the bathroom, already beginning to to change out of his rain drenched clothes. He heard the bathroom door open and glanced up to see that John had opened the door just enough to reach his arm out and give Sam the finger, then shut the door again, beginning to sing in the shower.

"What an obnoxious dick," Sam said laughing as he flopped onto one of the twin beds and lazily flicked on the TV.

* * *

Swinging open her door, Six fully expected to see Sam's stupid goofy grin meet her but was surprised to see the doorway empty and she quickly peered outside to see Sam's quickly retreating body already past the laundry room. Six took a breath to call out to him but instead just exhaled, making a huffing sound, she definitely did not need him to complicate anything else in her mind right then. She briefly wondered why he had come over here only to leave so quickly when she suddenly spotted the plastic bag hanging on her door handle.

Retrieving the bag, she couldn't help but smile when she pulled out a small bottle of her favorite soda. Realizing what she was doing, the smile disappeared and was replaced with a scowl that she shot over he shoulder, directed at Sam. She didn't need him to get her nourishment, she could get it herself if she wanted. Reaching again in the bag she yanked out the package of gummy bears and her grin reappeared. She loved gummy bears! Well, she loved sugar, she admitted, but gummy bears were great! Realizing she was again smiling, she ripped the bag off the handle and shut the door again. She hoped he hadn't seen her smiling.

_Why can't I even let him know he makes me smile?_ The voice in her head said to her as she sat cross legged on her bed, munching on her surprise snack. _**Because**_, she thought, _**then he would try to make me smile more often and that would be-**_

_ Great._

_**Unbearable.**_

_Amazing._

_**Ridiculously annoying.**_

_ You love him._

Six started coughing as she almost choked on the bite she was swallowing. Where in the hell had that come from. _**Absolutely not! Not an immature, weak human. **_She thought to herself as she put down her snack and took long gulps from her soda bottle to wash down that last bite. This stupid voice in her head was trying to kill her, not to mention saying things to her that were totally not true! She put down her bottle and buried her face in her hands, rubbing her eyes hard, she was just tired and needed a nice, soothing shower. That should help clear her mind. Continuing to mutter about her own inner voice, Six made her way into the bathroom and turned the shower on extra hot and stared into the mirror over the sink as she let the water heat up. She did not like Sam, he was insufferable and immature and there was no reason for her mind to be racing like this just because she was thinking of his disarming smile, and those deep emerald eyes, and-.

"Stop it, he sucks." she practically yelled at herself through gritted teeth, she was not doing this, not right now, _**not ever if I can help it **_her thoughts finished for her as she stripped down and stepped into the shower, she needed to wash herself and get into bed fast so she could to get some sleep and definitely NOT dream about Sam.


	3. Chapter 3

Sam's eyes slowly opened to the dark room, small pool of light emanating from the TV stand. Blinking the sleep from his eyes he realized the light was being cast from his cell phone that kept vibrating against the wooden surface. Shuffling out of bed, Sam smashed his thumb down on the phone, stopping the vibration, and shot a glance at the other twin bed. A large lump could be seen in the darkness and Sam recognized it as John who hadn't even taken the time to pull the blankets up over him before dozing off to sleep.

Satisfied that he had not woke John, Sam checked the phone to see who wanted to contact him of all people at 2am in the morning. _Emily_ was all the text message header said and Sam sighed, looking around for the backpack John had lugged in while Sam had gone to the store. Sam couldn't find it and didn't want to slip into his wet clothes so he opted to stay in his boxers. Moving to the door he turned the handle when he heard a noise from across the room. Glancing back at John it was apparent that he was only shifting in his sleep, and Sam opened the door and retreated outside.

It was still raining out but Sam stayed under the roof overhang as he investigated if anyone was outside that could see him, however because of the late hour he was reasonably sure that everyone was asleep already. Turning his attention back to his phone he opened the message and read the contents.

_Sam where have you been, I went to your place but your mom says she doesn't know where you are! Text me back! Kiss! _The message read and Sam found himself smiling and blushing slightly as he finished it. Emily was the first girl that ever kissed him and that's a hard thing for a guy to just shake off. Running his hand through his hair, Sam automatically glanced over at Six's room, but shook off his feeling of unease. _She doesn't like you so just let it go._ He thought to himself as he started to reply in kind to Emily, _I'm out with John, don't worry, thinking of you! Be back in a few days hopefully._ He typed out and was about to send it when he looked up at Six's door again and sighed. Sure he liked Emily, but nothing like what he felt about Six. Remembering back to the party where she had kissed him and set his mind racing, it was nothing compared to the quickened pulse and butterflies he felt whenever Six just locked eyes with him, even if it was to give him scathing looks.

Sam slowly deleted the message and started making his way across the parking lot, rain lightly wetting his skin and sharp gravel digging holes into his bare feet, but he ignored it. _I need to take a drive and clear my head, _Sam thought to himself but quickly realized that he had left his keys back in the room. Turning abruptly on his heel he started back towards his door when he noticed something very strange, the rain a few feet away didn't seem to be hitting the ground but hitting a large invisible shape just in front of him.

"Uhhh...Six? Is that you?"

* * *

Six couldn't sleep, she had tossed and turned, cranked up the A/C then turned it down again and even tried watching TV to put her to sleep but none of it worked. Her mind kept racing and would not calm down. Where the Mogs on their trail now? Where were the other Numbers? How were they going to get there? And every once in a while, when she was in the middle of worrying over another detail or two of their journey, an ash and blood covered face of a boy with black hair would bubble up into her mind, causing her to have to stop her train of thought and squash the image way down into her sub-conscious.

Six was sick of this. She was sick of always having to stop what she was doing and mentally beat her own mind into submission about a boy she hardly knew. _I clearly have too much time on my hands,_ she thought to herself and the only idea she could come up with to solve her time dilemma was to wake John's ass up and find out what their next move was. If she knew what they were doing she could spend her time planning and not..._whatever it is I'm doing now with my stupid imagination,_ she thought harshly, once more banishing the memory of Sam's hand on her cheek from her mind.

Roughly putting on her clothes and slipping into her jacket, Six snagged her room key and exited into the rainy night. Careful to stay underneath the overhang to avoid the rain, Six swiftly made her way to John and Sam's room where she stood outside for several moments, collecting her thoughts. After several mental tries, she couldn't think of a good excuse as to why at 2am she was so interested in finding out the plan instead of just waiting till a decent hour. Electing to just burst in and be her usual brash self, Six turned to bang on the door when the handle turned. Staring at it in shock for only a moment, she immediately went invisible and flattened herself against the wall next to the door. Six held her breath as the door opened a few seconds later and Sam exited into the night air, in nothing but his boxers.

Six instantly bit her tongue to force herself not to burst out laughing, Sam would DIE from embarrassment if he let her see him like this. Six knew she should just slowly make her way back to her room and slip back inside when Sam wasn't looking but as hard as she tried to make her feet start moving, they felt like they were cemented to the walkway. That's when she noticed that she had not stopped staring at his exposed chest and she was slightly laboring for breath, her face ablaze. She was sure she was as red as his truck. _Oh my God what is wrong with me?_ She thought furiously as she mentally berated herself, _I mean his body is anything BUT impressive_. She was right, he couldn't have weighed more than a buck twenty and you could see his ribcage poking out of the very sides of his upper body, his pale skin looking even lighter in this bad lighting.

Six finally got her feet moving but in the wrong direction as Sam had just started looking at his cell phone and curiosity got the better of her. Gliding up behind Sam silently, Six looked over his shoulder at what he was reading on his phone. _Sam where have you been, I went to your place but your mom says she doesn't know where you are! Text me back! Kiss! _And Six had to fight a very strong urge to rip the phone out of Sam's hands and hurl it into the night. Who the hell was Emily, and why was she going to Sam's house? Or texting him Kiss? Kiss? KISS? This Emily girl was going to learn a few things real fast if she even THOUGHT that...Six stopped and relaxed the fists she hadn't even realized she clenched. _He is just going to get attached to this pathetic girl and slow us down, yeah that's it, that's why you're upset_ she said to herself, and that's when she read Sam's reply and once again had to physically stop herself again, this time from assaulting Sam.

_Thinking of her huh?_ Six scathingly said to herself as she started to follow him towards his truck. Where was he going, why hadn't he sent that message to Emily, instead deleting it? _He's probably going to call her_ _and tell her ALL the reasons he-_ Six cut herself off mid thought as Sam had suddenly whirled around and was staring right at her. Six glanced at her hand and saw she was still invisible but instantly realized why Sam was looking right at her. _The rain_ she groaned to herself as she heard Sam's voice.

"Uhhh...Six? Is that you?"

Six's mind raced! What could she possibly say that could get her out of this situation she had found herself in?

"Six?" came Sam's voice again and Six decided that the only way to get out of this was to be herself, her normal, mean, spiteful self. Shedding her invisibility, Six light the fireworks off like only she could.

"Yes it's me you miserable idiot! Don't you think we have better things to be doing than walking around outside in our boxers? Like getting sleep for our weak human body so we can keep up and form a plan tomorrow! Oh but you know what, obviously your love life is more important, why don't you call little Emily up and tell her how much you miss her and wah wah wah. I'll tell you what, you had better hit a gym before you let her see you again though because from here you look like you're what, twelve?" Six practically exploded as she slowly advanced on Sam, jabbing a finger into his chest. Sam had looked dumbstruck when she first started hollering but had quickly recovered, but at the mention of his body Sam looked like he had been slapped in the face and his forehead darkend to a shade of red she had never seen on his face before. She mentally winced, she knew she was being incredibly mean, and went to apologize, but instead just continued on her tear. "I know if I were her and I saw you take off your shirt, I wouldn't be able to stop laughing! Girls don't like guys that are weaker than them and let me tell you, I'm pretty sure you're weaker than all other girls. If I catch you out here drawing attention to yourself one more friggin time while I'm on watch out here, I'll beat you till you are black and blue now get back inside your damn room and at least put on some clothes you scrawny freak!" Six finished, nose pressed against Sam's, she hadn't even noticed she had been backing him up and was now towering over him as his back was pressed against the truck.

Sam looked terrified and Six realized she may have made a terrible mistake. Her mind raced on how to backtrack on everything she had just said, she couldn't believe all those words had come out of her mouth! And about her Sam! Her mouth silently worked, but no words came out and Sam's eyes began to lightly water. He wanted to cry but she could tell he was fighting it, hard, so that she wouldn't see. _I made him cry_ she thought as a sick feeling slammed into her stomach. She wanted to throw up, she wanted to run away, and she suddenly had an overwhelming desire to pick him up in a crushing hug and make him feel better. None of these things happened though.

"I'm sorry Six." Sam mumbled as he pushed her off him and practically sprinted back to his room, shutting the door quickly behind him.

Six stood their in shock, staring at the door Sam had just closed as rain quickly soaked through her clothes and matted her hair. She couldn't really believe what events had just transpired in the last couple of minutes, she just found herself silently pleading for Sam to come back out that door and let her apologize for all the horrible things she just said to him. After several grueling moments, Six tore her eyes away from Sam's room and shuffled back to her own, leaning against the door as she closed it, slowly sliding down until she was sitting on the floor against the door, head resting on her knees. _**I hate him**_, she thought to herself as she simply dropped her keys to the floor and slowly hugged her knees, _**and I hate Emily! This is all their fault.**_

_This is your fault_ her little voice said bitterly, Six didn't even bother trying to shut it up this time, _This is all your fault for being a bitch and he hates us now, I hope your happy. He's probably talking to whoever Emily is right now, I bet she isn't telling him how weak and pathetic he is._  
"Enough," Six mumbled miserably to herself but her mind wouldn't relent.

_You don't deserve him anyways_. The voice finished and was silent. The sick feeling in her stomach got worse as she pictured Sam's crushed face as he heard her insult him again and again. Except these weren't just insults, they were personal, deep, hurtful. Six lifted her head and was surprised to feel a few drops of water spill down her cheeks, was she crying? _You made him cry, you deserve it._ She thought bitterly again as her head sank back into her knees.

* * *

Sam closed the door and angrily threw his key onto his bed, how could he have been so stupid? Not bothering to watch his noise level for a sleeping John, Sam crossed the room and slammed the bathroom door shut, twisting on the hot water in the shower. _She hates me, of course she hates me, why did I even begin to fool myself?_ Sam thought angrily as he quickly brushed the water from his eyes, he shouldn't be crying over a few lousy insults, it was nothing much worse than what the guys back at school would say to him. But it wasn't what was said, but who was saying it that cut him deepest. A soft knock at the door made him immediately picture a rain soaked Six come to apologize but Sam shook his heard ruefully, he had to just accept she despised him.

"Hey," came Johns voice from the other side and the door creaked open enough for John to look in.

A tear rolled down Sam's cheek but he quickly wiped it away as he turned away from John, not wanting him to see him in such a pitiful condition. After a few more moments of silence, John spoke again.

"I'll leave you be man, but if you want to talk about her once you get out of the shower, I'm here for you." John said as he closed the door again and Sam smiled to himself, John always knew what was going on with Sam, even if he had just woken up in the middle of the night to a slamming door. Getting in the shower, Sam felt the chill slowly ebb out of his body, but it did nothing to fill the hole that had suddenly opened up in his chest.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Present Day**_

Sam sat down heavily on the metallic crate, a huge sigh escaping his lips as he slung the Mog rifle off his shoulder and laid it on his lap. It seemed like it had been years since he had just _sat_. Lazily reaching around his body, he roughly loosed the two clasps holding his body armor together over his chest, it falling away to the ground with a loud crash. _Much better, _Sam thought to himself as he stretched his arms up, ignoring the pain in his side from his nagging wound, and leaned back and placed his head against the cool wall, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. Several loud thumps reverberating through the floor coming from below him brought a small smile to Sam's face. _Looks like the bombs worked_ he thought as he opened his eyes again, glancing a the end of the hall, a single hydraulic door stood locked. The bombs would have set off a chain reaction that would totally destabilize the reactor located in this shelter, meaning everyone in here when that thing blew was toast, meaning they were going to be coming to the surface soon, that door was one of two ways to the surface. Nine, Seven and her Cepan had collapsed the other tunnel leading to the surface with the rest of their C-4 charges, meaning this was the only way in or out.

Taking his eyes off the door at the end of the hall, he looked next to him, at the door leading outside, just a few feet away was freedom, the other side of the door of course. Sam's eyes traced a line around the door, following the cable that connected it to the hydraulic machinery that would open it, or at least it could have right up until Sam had fired three highly volatile rounds from his Mog rifle into its center. The sparking and oozing machine would be opening no doors any time soon, and that particular door was designed to withstand a hell of a lot of punishment. _Hopefully enough punishment to contain the explosion when this power reactor goes up in flames_ Sam thought bitterly as he popped the back of his rifle open, discharging the used Mog power canister and replacing it with a new one from his belt.

Sam's gaze eventually went back down range to the door that the Mogs would be coming out of soon like a hive of bees trying to escape death. Sam wasn't really worried about the Mogs somehow finding a way to get through to get outside, but he didn't really want to die like a chump, as he angrily snapped the energy casing into place, feeling the warm hum signaling the rifle was ready to fire. He reached into his pocket, he pulled out a creased and slightly faded picture he kept on him at all times, attempting to smooth it out on his chest. It was a picture of Six, her face a wide smile as she balanced a parrot on her arm. It was from the time he, John and Six had visited the zoo in San Diego while they were hunting for Seven. Sam cherished this picture, held it just as dear as the glasses of his father that he kept in the same pocket, _Guess I won't be finding you dad, I'm sorry_ Sam thought as he stood up, groaning from the wound, and knelt down to take up a firing position on the far door. He felt a few more thumps and a loud alarm began blaring.

Sam sat still as he waited, waited for the Mogs to come through that door, waited for the reactor to overheat and destabilize, waited for the explosion, waited..._to die_ Sam finished sadly as he tried to force a smile. _I should be afraid shouldn't I?_ But he wasn't, his pulse wasn't racing, he wasn't crying, it had been his decision after all, seeing John, Sarah, Eight, Eight's Cepan Isaac, and beautiful Six sprinting away from the bunker, Sam knew that the resulting explosion could kill all of them, he couldn't let them die, any of them, they had a war to fight. War had casualties and sacrifices, and he knew that sealing the door and making sure the Mog's couldn't open it would contain the blast enough so that his friends could get away. _War has sacrifices_, Sam thought again, he hoped his meant something.

Taking another deep breath, Sam steeled his nerves and focused on the door at the end of the hall and waited, and as he waited, his memories continued to play through his mind like a slow movie, almost like his body knew he didn't have much time left and had started his 'life flashing before your eyes' bit just a little early. Sam knelt unwavering, he waited, and remembered.

_**FLASH**_

* * *

Sunlight spilled through the window as the shades were yanked back, causing Sam to pull his covers up over his head, but they were immediately yanked off.

"Where is he Sam?" Sam heard yelled at him as he tried to blindly reach for the blankets, it was Six! "I get up this morning and the truck is gone and so is John, where is he, I know you know."

Sam shot out of bed, stumbling and then eventually falling to the floor, hastily getting up and pulling his clothes on. Six had already made fun of his body enough, he didn't need to give her any more reasons. "I have no idea what you're talking about!" Sam responded, avoiding her eyes, he was a terrible liar and knew if he looked at her, Six would instantly know his deceit. Unfortunately he must have been worse at lying than he thought because Six took two steps and grabbed him by his hair while simultaneously striking the back of his knee with her foot, bringing him to the ground.

"Where. Is. He?" she said dangerously quietly.

"We...we..we were talking last night about...girls," Sam sputtered, he had almost said _About you,_ but decided he didn't need to get beat any more than Six already was, "and we were talking about how depressed he was getting because he couldn't see Sarah and-"

"He went to get Sarah didn't he? God Damnit!" Six yelled as she released Sam's hair which he immediately started rubbing to soothe the pain.

"Don't get mad at him, it was my idea," Sam said, ignoring the venomous stare he started receiving from Six, "It's not fair to him that he has to leave her behind, and if the Mogs know who we are, which it looks like they do, the safest place for her is with us, instead of getting caught and used as bait to lure John into a trap. You know he would do anything stupid if he had to save her."

Six bit her lip, Sam had a great point, John seemed as though he would willingly die for this girl, and if the Mogs captured her then Six doubted she could stop John from trying to rescue her. However, Six could not bring herself to tell Sam that he MAY or may not have a point. "Just...When will he be back?" she asked, turning away from Sam.

"He said he shouldn't be any later than noon." Sam replied, standing back up and crossing the room to Johns backpack and pulling out a laptop. "Which gives us plenty of time to do what John asked me to do." Six's questioning glance prompted Sam to continue, "He told me to figure out what our next move is, so me and you are going to figure out where the next number is."

Six stood in the middle of the room for several more moments before making a disgusted sound and throwing her hands in the air. "Fine we will plan but I fail to see how you will be helpful at all."

Sam shrugged off the insult and grinned, "Hey I don't know if you remembered, but I'm pretty smart, I'm sure I can help somehow." he said as he flipped the laptop open and thumbed the mouse, "to the internet we go!" he said causing Six to roll her eyes.

"Stop being lame and concentrate." Six ordered as she sat on the bed next to Sam.

* * *

Being alone in the same room as Sam was making it very hard to Six to concentrate. She kept catching herself staring at his face or wanting to grab his hand, or tackle him onto the bed...shaking herself she got off the bed and started pacing around. She needed to distract herself and the best ways to that were to move, and yell at Sam.

"Okay, so you and John both said you 'knew' where the other numbers are, but what does that mean? Do you know who they are, or locations like the town they are in or house they are in? Or-"

"Shut up Sam and let me think for two seconds." Six snapped at Sam as he obediently fell silent and she closed her eyes. _Nope, didn't work, still want to throw him onto the bed_ she thought as she sighed loudly. Taking a deep breath she pushed Sam, difficultly, from her mind as she thought back to when she and John had used the tracking stone. She didn't know how she knew where the other numbers were, she just _knew._ She knew when she was close, she knew the direction they were all in, and she knew their faces. _Faces!_ That was it! When she thought of the faces of each of the numbers, images popped up in her head

"I see...things...pictures, when I think about the numbers," she said, keeping her eyes shut, "but I can't make sense of them! I need John." she said frustratedly.

"It's okay," Sam said reassuringly, "let's work with what we have now, tell me some of these 'pictures' you see and I will try and find where they might be."

Hearing Sam's voice caused her mind once again to get a little fuzzy but she pushed him away once more. "Okay I see beaches, a beautiful beach...a lot of people on it...Ummm," Six described as she chewed on her bottom lip, "there are a lot of sand castles if that helps..."

"Can you see anything more about the beach? Like a pier or boats or anything? Buildings with signs maybe?"

Six shut her eyes tighter trying to focus on the image, but everything was so blurry and difficult to see. "There is a little snack shack hold on...Mission Bay Crab Shack."

"Mission Bay? That's Mission Beach, that's San Diego!" cried Sam, "Hey I knew that! I was useful haha I didn't even need the internet." he laughed, grinning as he looked at Six.

Six looked back at him and his smile seemed to light up his face, especially his eyes. Six had to get out of there. "Whatever," she muttered as she quickly crossed the room and yanked open the door, "book us tickets and tell John the plan, I'm going for a ride."

"With what money?" Sam asked in astonishment.

"Yours." she replied simply, shutting the door on Sam's gawking face.

Six stood outside Sam's room for several moments taking slow, even breaths. _This is foolish, pull it together_ she silently berated herself as she made her way back to her room to grab her motorcycle key. Nothing made her feel better than a refreshing ride outside and she was thoroughly looking forward to being as far away from Sam as she could be.

* * *

Sam watched Six leave and heaved a huge sigh as he put his hand on his face and rubbed his eyes. _Even when you're helpful she just wants to get away from you_ he thought as he slowly put his hands back on the laptop, bringing up one of the many flight booking websites. Sam zoned out while he searched and re-searched for flights for a few hours that would be most inexpensive while also getting them to their destination quickly. He found one departing Columbus that would not hit his bank account too hard when he heard the familiar chug of his trucks engine pull into the parking stall in front of the room. Smiling, Sam jumped up and went out to meet his friend and tell him the good news of their known destination.

Opening the door, Sam as greeted by John walking up to the room trailed by Sarah and...

"Emily?" Sam said out loud in bewilderment, "what the hell are you doing here?"

"Sam!" she cried, running up and throwing her arms around him, "what are you guys doing out here? John told me you guys are going on some road trip or something? That's so cool!"

Sam shot a questioning look to John who nodded his head towards Sarah, mouthing 'they were together, sorry'.

"Wow this is...definitely a surprise!" Sam exclaimed as Emily removed herself from around him stood off to one side, still beaming. Waving to Sarah, he looked back at John, "Need help getting anything out of the truck?"

John instantly picked up on the hint, "Yeah I grabbed some supplies, why don't you ladies go ahead inside and make yourselves comfortable." he said, grabbing Sarah around the waist and giving her a quick kiss before she headed inside with Emily. As soon as the door shut Sam whirled on John.

"What the hell dude? Do you know how mad Six was when she beat the fact that you were going back to get Sarah out of me? She is going to be friggin' furious when she sees Emily!"

John nodded soberly, but then gave a shrug. "Emily was with Sarah when I showed up and she immediately started pestering me with questions about you, and I figured you might enjoy having a girl around that ACTUALLY likes you. I was thinking of you man!" John said, giving Sam a mini head-lock.

"Six is going to kill her, then you for bringing her, then me because she's on a roll at that point why not just finish off everyone that's pissing her off. Sarah is safe though, I think, I'm pretty sure they get along." Sam said as he grabbed a bag of clothes out of the bed of the truck and slung it over his shoulder, he hoped there was not just girls clothing in these bags, he would love to not have the same jeans and red and white plaid shirt until he got around to buying new clothes. "All this stuff the girls?"

"All that stuff is Sarah's," John said with a grin, "women man, they have so, much, damn, clothing! Right?" John joked as he grabbed the other two duffel bags and headed inside, Sam following.

"Okay, so we figured out where to go," Sam said and Johns face lit up, "I was about to book us four flights to San Diego but..." Sam glanced at Emily.

"San Diego? You guys are flying to San Diego? Like a party vacation type of thing?" Emily asked and Sam bit his lip.

"Emily you don't have to go with us," Sam began, "this was sort of just sprung on you and-" Sam was cut off as the door was kicked in, Six's face ablaze with anger.

"Well I'm F-ing glad you're back John, off...who the hell are you?" Six yelled, suddenly realizing there was another person in the room.

"Umm, hi, I'm Emily." Emily said quietly, clearly trying to not further piss off this strange woman.

Six stood there goggling at Emily, then looked at Sam, then back at Emily, the color in her face going from pink to red. "Are you...kidding me?" she yelled, looking again at Sam, "You had him stop by and get your freaking girlfriend?"

Six looked around wildly, presumably for something to throw, but coming up empty handed she resorted to driving a finger into Sam's chest. "Get us our plane tickets and no one bother me until it's time to leave, I don't want to see any of your faces!" she said through gritted teeth as she stormed out of the room, slamming the door so hard Sam was surprised it didn't come off its hinges.

"So that's our friend," said John attempting to force a smile at Emily, who looked horrified, "she takes some getting used to."

"She's sort of a bitch," clarified Sarah, "but as long as you arn't Sam she seems to be nice enough, usually."

"Anyways," said Sam, shaking himself off mentally, "time to get I guess five tickets now."

Sam sat back on the bed and pulled up the laptop, taking his debit card out of his wallet to purchase the tickets. Sarah and John were already cuddling on the other bed while Emily sat down next to Sam, leaning against him.

"So San Diego? This will be fun." she said flashing a smile at Sam, displaying her perfect teeth.

"It will definitely be an adventure." Sam answered mysteriously.

* * *

The door slammed and she started stomping towards her room. Of all the people in the whole WORLD she did not want to see, Emily was at the top of that list. _Emily! Ugh! Bitch! I should shoot her_ Six thought angrily, as she ripped open her own door and slammed it with as much force as she had Sam and John's. She made her way into the bathroom where she grasped the sink and leaned against it for support. She felt like she was going to throw up. She looked at the mirror but she didn't see her reflection, the only thing she saw was Emily holding Sam, smiling at Sam, kissing Sam.

Six didn't even remember breaking the mirror but she was suddenly holding her hand, blood sliding down her fingers with shards of glass all over the bathroom floor. Wincing, Six went and sat on her bed, idly grabbing a towel as she left the bathroom to wrap around her hand. Emily was here. It was a fact. She didn't know anything about this girl other than that she was romantically involved with her Sam and that was all the reason she needed to _**hate**_ her. But now she was here, and it seemed that Sam and John didn't mind having her around, which meant she was outnumbered and couldn't just make Emily leave.

Sighing, she flopped back on her bed and wished he hand didn't hurt as much, wished she hadn't broken that mirror, wished she had just tackled Sam into his bed when she had the chance. Now that Emily was here, it looked like her chance with Sam was slipping away. Curling up in bed she pulled the blankets to cover her and, tying off the towel to stem the blood flow, drifted off to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

_**SIX - FUTURE**_

_Boom! Crack! _The explosions of fireworks lit up the night sky like they did every year on this night. V-Day, victory day, the day the Mogadorians finally surrendered. Six slammed the bottle of Jose Cuervo Gold to her mouth and took a long swig, coughing as the icy burn seared the back of her throat. It had been eight years since the end of the war, eight years since the Earth was finally free from the destructive power of the mighty Mogadorian fleet. Six watched sadly as more fireworks blanketed the night sky, sparking more and more cheers from the people of Earth that were filling the suburban streets below her.

Six raised the bottle again but decided against another drink, letting her arm fall limply to her side. She was exactly where she wanted to be on this night, alone on the roof of her house, no one to bother her, just her alone with her own drunken thoughts. This night was never about celebration for her, she always ended up dwelling on what she had lost. She always thought of the same thing, the last words she ever heard Sam say to her. The tears began rolling once more as Six replayed it in her mind again and again.

_"Six...I love you, stay safe." she heard crackle weakly through the walkie-talkie in her hand._

_ "NO!" she screamed back into the little black box, tears streaming down her face. She didn't care that everyone else was next to her, listening. She didn't care that they were still in the middle of a battle. All she cared about was the weak voice on the other end of the transmission. "YOU PROMISED ME! YOU FUCKING PROMISED ME THAT YOU WOULDN'T DIE!"_

_ Silence met her, agonizing silence, seconds ticked by, suddenly a burst of static. "You're the best thing that has ever happened to me Six...Maren, Maren Elizabeth. But you said it yourself, it's just a myth that Lorics only fall in love once...you will be okay, I mean..it's only me after all." Sam said, laughing a little at the end, brash even staring death in the face._

_ "Please," Six cried, pleading, "please don't leave us, leave me. I need you, I NEED YOU. SAM!" she shouted, staring a mile and a half down the mountain they had scaled, down where Sam had locked himself in the bunker to help contain the explosion and radiation. She stared as a massive shockwave knocked everyone off their feet and slowly the reactor site started to collapse on top of itself._

_ "SAM!" she shrieked over and over into the walkie-talkie, "SAM! SAM! SAM!" cold silence was all that met her._

She chugged down another few gulps, ignoring the burning intensity on her throat. A quick glance at the bottle indicated it was empty, and she tossed it away with disgust. She wanted another, she wanted not to feel, she wanted to die. She had been wrong, her Cepan had been wrong. Lorics indeed only fall in love once. Sure she had slept around with a few other guys, but it was just that. Physical. It wasn't Sam, it would never be Sam.

Six heard a shuffle from behind her and knew that it must be that time of the night where the others started to worry about her. Something cold was rested on her shoulder and she instinctively snapped around, her eyes being greeted by a cold Newcastle being offered to her. Talking the already opened beer, Six turned back to the fireworks display as John roughly sat down next to her. John typically was the first one that came out to see if she was alright and had become exceedingly efficient by her standards at being a good friend. John simply sat in silence with her as they both took gulps from their beer.

"He was a great warrior," John finally said after a few minutes of silence, "and a good friend."

Six's face held a faint smile, "That sounds like Obi Wan Kenobi from Star Wars." she said with a hint of a giggle.

"Damn your getting good at spotting those nerdy quotes, Sam would be in shock." John said with a laugh, taking another drink from his Blue Moon.

"He always loved those stupid movies." Six said softly, draining the last of her beer, "Got another?" she asked, glancing at John who had already produced a Bud Light can from his pocket and popped the tab open.

"You know, when I think about Sam one memory always sticks out. It was the zoo, remember? Emily had already ditched him for that Italian douche-bag and you being just a giant..."

"Bitch?" Six finished for him with a smile as she relaxed back onto the roof.

"Yeah that's a good word for it," John replied jokingly, "I remember always knowing he had such a massive crush on you the whole time and just didn't get the nerve to say anything. You know it was I that finally made him man up with you."

"Yeah." Six agreed wistfully. The sky was dark again as the fireworks had just gotten over and people were milling about, cycling back into their homes. "Yeah he was such a dork. An adorable, lovable dork." she said as she laid her head back against the roof, remembering.

_**FLASH**_

Sam roughly zipped up the pocket of the backpack after acquiring the bottle of water he had brought from outside. Unscrewing the cap he gulped down mouthfuls of water into his parched mouth. The beading sweat still falling down his forehead from the intense heat he was not used to. Wiping his sleeve across his head, he squinted his eyes as he glanced at the scorching sun.

"Hey man, mind if I get a swig of that?" John asked, his damp shirt showing his own amount of sweating was going on.

"Sorry man, I bought this stuff outside because I didn't want to pay forty five dollars for a bottle of water loser." Sam said with a smirk, drinking the last of the water and casually tossing it into a nearby trash can. "Plus, all gone." he said, again grinning.

"Hey idiot," Six said from behind him, snatching the backpack from his hand, "We all know you packed one for Emily, you know, that chick that literally ran off with that Italian hottie when we entered the park?"

At the mention of Emilys name Sam's ears went pink and John, being so close to Sam, noticed his friends discomfort.

"Hey Six, pump the brakes okay? It's probably still a little raw..." John said but Six plowed on.

"No way it's too funny. I mean she seriously just saw a hott guy and poof! I mean that really has to suck for your self confidence Sam." she said, shooting a beaming smile at Sam as she pulled the water bottle out and tossed the backpack back to him. "Ooohhh speaking of which, I'll be right back."

and with that Six practically skipped over to the tiger pen where a group of three college boys were leaning on the railing, admiring the creatures.

"You know she can be a real bitch," Sarah said softly to John, glancing over at a very sullen looking Sam.

"You don't know the half of it. Sam has a massive crush on Six, he has for a while. It was a big mistake bringing Emily, I think she might have totally killed his confidence." John replied, with a slow smile creeping onto his face at the end. "But I might have an idea."

"What are you thinking, and try to keep in mind that you're a guy and therefore have terrible ideas." Sarah teased, wrapping her arm around his and leaning her head in close.

With a quick kiss, John explained his plan. "We are going to split up, you and me and Sam and Six. Reasoning will be that both me and Six should be able to spot the next Garde even if we don't know how, but the likely hood that they are here is low, so let's give Sam some much needed alone time with Six and see if a few sparks fly."

"They will,"said Sarah firmly, getting a strange look from John, "Hey I'm a girl, and she might bean alien but you're pretty similar in emotions, I can just tell...she practically jumped for joy when Emily bailed."

"That was because it upset Sam so much." John argued but Sarah shook her head.

"Just trust me John," she replied, running a hand through his disheveled hair, "we both know I'm smarter than you." she finished with a giggle.

Sam was actively trying to busy himself with his phone but John kept catching him stealing glances over at Six, who was now in full flirt mode with one of the boys she had isolated. She kept bouncing her hair around and loud giggles could be heard cutting through the crowd noise. Sam watched as she went to her tip-toes to whisper something in the boys ear when he finally turned away in disgust, jamming his phone back into the backpack.

"I don't know," John said looking back at Sarah, "certainly looks like she's into that guy."

"It's supposed to, remember how I would sometimes talk to Mark because you were being weird with me, telling me stupid stuff like you couldn't see me? Jealousy, she's trying to make him jealous. I just don't really know why. She seems like she might be really shitty at trying to get a boy she likes, or she doesn't want to admit she likes Sam, even to herself."

John had a confused look on his face as he listened. "That's pretty insightful babe," he said as he scratched his head, "I wonder how much of it is true."

"Let's find out, split us up into our teams Mister Leader." Sarah told John with a sarcastic grin, already starting to walk in the opposite direction of Sam.

John walked over the few yards that were separating him and his best friend, stopping over a kneeling Sam who was still fussing with his backpack. Sam's light green t-shirt was starting to gather a few darker spots due to the sweat bleed through, and John knew Sam must be absolutely dying in the jeans he for some reason decided to wear.

"You're burning guy. Your neck is starting to get red." John said with a laugh as Sam stood up to face his friend.

"Wow, how weird, a computer nerd that spends all his time inside is burning like a steak the first day the whole crew is out in the sun! You're so clever for noticing John, write that shit down and put it in a book, everyone will laugh." Sam muttered almost under his breath, refusing to look in the direction of the tiger pen.

"Woah someone is being a total Grumpy Gus, balance your hormones and listen up." John retorted as he outlined the plan Sarah and him had come up with. "So we are going to Hit the south end while you and Six take the rest of the north, but the other Garde probably won't be here so don't have your hopes too high." John finished, ignoring an extremely skeptical look on Sam's face.

"This is a stupid plan."

"You're a stupid plan."

"Good one," Sam said with an eye roll, "well if that's what we are doing then I had better get over there and break the bad news to obligatory frat boy over there that I have to steal his new date to go try and save the universe."

"Hey," John said, reaching out and grabbing a hold of Sam's shoulder, spinning him back around, "Look at me, in my eyes man."

"This isn't going to get weird is it?"

"Shut up I'm trying to help. Be direct, like super direct. She knows who you are, you have been around, been yourself, and helped us out. If she doesn't like you now, she never will. This isn't a movie."

"I know it's not a movie you dick." Sam said defensively, trying to pull away from John, who only gripped harder.

"Then act like it, grow a pair and get the hard questions over with. What's she going to do that would be so bad?"

"Laugh at me." Sam replied glumly,

"She already does that, what else?"

"Treat me like crap...I guess she already does that too," Sam conceded as John nodded, smiling, "Yeah I guess fuck it, I'll see what I can do."

"Be assertive, don't be an ass, but be assertive," John assured him, giving his shoulder a squeeze, "Good luck, I have faith, and Sarah has a lot of faith!"

Sam stood silent for a moment, blinking away the sun as John walked away. "Sarah?" Sam called out questioningly, and John turned around and nodded with a thumbs up. "Huh, I wonder why Sarah thinks that." Sam said quietly to himself, hoisting his backpack over his shoulder and turning towards Six.

Sam strode purposefully towards Six, deliberately talking long even strides. _Assertive, assertive, assertive, what the hell do you have to lose?_ He kept telling himself over and over in his mind. Six was wearing a baby blue tank top layered with a short denim coat, showing about three inches of her stomach. She had correctly decided on faded jean short shorts and had a brown belt looped through four of the five belt holes. Her stunning blonde hair was pulled into a pseudo-side ponytail that was messy and had a large amount of strands of hair flowing around in the wind. When she glanced over and made eye contact with Sam she had started chewing on her lip, a response Sam had noticed was often attached to him being close by. Sam had begun to associate the behavior with anger or irritation.

Sam stopped a few feet short of Six and locked eyes with her, not even glancing at the boy she was talking to. _Assertive, assertive! _ "Hey, I need to borrow you for a second," Sam stated, reaching out and grabbing her arm, pulling Six with him and away from the boy. Sam expected Six to pummel him into the ground but instead she just stared at him in shock, her eyes wide and mouth slightly open, almost in disbelief that Sam would have the audacity to just grab her. _Assertive, not a dick but assertive. _"John and Sarah have decided we going to split up and since him and you are Garde, he says you two can spot the other in some...way," Sam said, making a weird gesture with his free hand but still holding on to Six's arm, "So I'm sorry to break up your date but he wants us to keep going and cover the north of the zoo."

"Excuse-" Six started but Sam cut her off.

"No, shut it Six. I'm sure you're not thrilled at all to have to team up with me but guess what,I'm a good team member, I know my shit. So we are going to go together on this hunt and you are going to be at the very least pleasant to me. The make fun of and pick on Sam train ends here okay? I'm getting sick of it. You don't have to like me but you don't have to be so mean all the time." Sam finished, his heart pounding. He could literally feel the sweat build up on his body as his adrenaline was pumping. He couldn't believe all the things he had just said to Six, who just stood there, staring at him.

Six moved her mouth, licked her lips a few times, and moved her mouth again, but said nothing. Finally a small smile started to creep onto her mouth. "Okay Sam, fine. Lets go have some fun."


	6. Chapter 6

_**PRESENT DAY**_

Flecks of molten metal sprayed into the air from the Mogadorian energy weapons melting the metal case Sam was crouched behind. A few burning specks fell onto Sam's face; Sam didn't even flinch. He calmly kept the rifle aimed down range, keeping his mind clear, the way Zachary, Sevens Cepan, had taught him. Aiming down the sights, Sam exhaled slowly. _Squeeze don't pull,_ Sam thought as his finger closed around the trigger. The rifle bucked, slamming the butt into his shoulder as red energy discharged from the barrel of the gun and lept towards the soldiers at the end of the hall. Sam smiled grimly as the red shot sank into the chest of a Mogadorian who was able to show a flash of surprise on his face before he exploded into ash.

Red smoke billowed from the vents along the barrel of his rifle as Sam quickly ducked back into cover. _Shit_ Sam thought, popping open the back of his gun, despite already knowing what he would find there. The bright canister that he had loaded into the chamber was now a dull black, e_mpty_. The Mogadorian noticed the red smoke and chortled with glee, "Looks like someones out of energy you worm!" he cried, pulling a black sword out of his belt sheath. With a loud cry he rushed towards Sam's position.

Sam smiled grimly and slowly stood, grabbing at his own waist and feeling the familiar warm, smooth metal hilt as he wrapped his hand around it, pulling forward a Loric sword of his own. The hilt burned blue as the loralite almost anticipated the clashing of steel with a Mog weapon. Sam was not afraid, he and Zach had trained extensively in melee combat, given how the Mogs engaged in it as often as they did, and Sam had defeated Soldier class Mogs before.

The Mogadorian came in with ferocity that abandoned any sort of skill, he simply wanted to over-power Sam and get past him. Sam tensed as the enemy took a huge, over head swing, and Sam snapped his own counter, bring his sword in an arc in front of him, catching the Mogs sword well before it landed a strike. Quickly re-balancing himself, Sam swung back out from his left to his right with a quick slash that the Mog had to throw himself to the ground to avoid. Pouncing forward, Sam slammed the sword down onto the helpless Mog who barely had enough time to get his sword in the way. The Mogadorian rolled backwards but Sam advanced with a flurry of swings that landed two blows on the chest of the Mog, but not enough to kill him.

The Mogadorian regained his feet and squared off again with Sam, this time more cautiously, but Sam was now on the attack. With two quick steps, Sam closed the distance and landed a series of strikes on the Mogs blade that left it swung wide to his right, as Sam landed a punch that caused the Mogadorian to stumble back off balance. Sam grinned, he remembered a time when he would have punched a Mog and they would have laughed. That was a long time ago, before the fifteen straight months of training he had to endure with Zach. Sam was not so small anymore.

The Mogadorian realized he was in trouble and rushed Sam again but Sam calmly took a step back, blocked wild swing, reversed his momentum and slammed his sword through the chest of the Mog, all the way to the hilt. The loralite blazed bright blue for an instant as the Mog cried out in pain and exploded into ash. As the brilliant color faded, Sam slowly sheathed the sword and crossed the hallway back to his discarded rifle, panting heavily.

The temperature of the bunker had dramatically increased as the reactor below Sam grew more and more unstable. He didn't have a thermometer but if Sam was a betting man he would say it was bordering on 125 degrees, or close to it. His shirt was stuck to his chest as he continued to gulp air and he wiped his sweaty forehead with his sweaty hand, effectively doing nothing. Sam glanced around and noticed the growing haze in the air, as if it was beginning to get so hot that everything was becoming blurry to his eyes.

Glancing back towards the outside door, his eyes fell onto a small black box beside the frame. The long discarded radio he had sent his last words to Six with. Closing his eyes, Sam tried to focus on Six's face but the heat was making his brain go a little fuzzy. Instead of just her face, Sam tried place a memory in his mind, a kiss, their first kiss. He smiled as suddenly her beautiful face appeared just inches from his, the smell of french vanilla strong in his mind as she closed her eyes, face getting bigger.

_**FLASH**_

"Well Mister Macho, did you actually have a plan after your little speech or are we just going to stand here watching these," Six complained as she leaned forward and squinted, reading the plaque, "_Lemurs._"

"Hey," Sam piped in defensively, "Lemurs are cool, and I'm thinking of how to best attack the patrol of the Zoo."

"They have creepy eyes," Six muttered, still hunched over, now with her hands on the rail, leaning in to get a better view.

Sam really was trying to devise a plan, and he was trying to completely ignore that the way Six was leaning was pulling her shirt forward and exposing and inch and a half of her back, a bit of pink cloth sneaking out over the top of her shorts. Well he was failing at both, miserably. Any time he actually thought of something to say, she would shift and his eyes would find their way back to her and any plan he had in his mind somehow transformed into an extremely satisfying alien make-out session.

"Why are you staring at my butt, did I sit in something?" Six suddenly asked, trying in vain to look over her shoulder as see the back of her shorts.

Sam flushed crimson and immediately tried to hide behind the map of the zoo he had been examining. He was literally the worst at this sort of shit, goofy and lame, about as opposite of debonair

as you can get. He didn't really know what to do to try and defuse the situation so he simply blurted out the first thing that came to mind, "We should split up," Sam winced as he said it, it was a dumb idea and quite the opposite of the entire reason to divide into teams, but Sam's big mouth had already formed the words so he decided to stick to his guns, "We can cover a lot more of the north end that way."

Six stopped and slowly turned her head towards Sam, one eyebrow raised, "Isn't that exactly what you said we _shouldn't _do like...ten minutes ago?" Sam's mouth was working but nothing was coming out, Six just bowled right over him, "Sam how about we just try _walking around_? I know it sounds crazy but...maybe it's better than standing here..."

"Y-yeah, okay we can just do that." He replied, _not very 'assertive'_ he mentally berated himself as Six simply picked a direction and walked. Sam crammed the map into the front pocket of the backpack and re-slung it over his shoulder as he hurried to catch up to the fast walking Six.

They moved in silence for minutes as they followed the paths that ran the outlines of several cages, none of which slowed Six down. Sam was busy trying to think of something clever to say to brake the silence when Six whirled around suddenly, startling Sam with her piercing gaze.

"Sam why are you such a nerd?"

Sam was perplexed, of all the things he would have thought she would suddenly say to him, this didn't make the list. Caught off guard, he didn't really answer the question, "I'm...sorry?"  
"Don't apologize!" she said with an exasperated sigh, "You make everything so damn difficult!"

Sam had no idea what was going on, "Do you...want me to call John or something and switch me and Sarah?"

"Oh my fucking God you're impossible!" she shouted as she stormed away, leaving Sam with his mouth hanging open.

Scratching his head, Sam was tempted to pullout his phone and call John to see if he had any idea about the weird outburst, but figured that, like him, John would have no idea and Sarah, like all women, would know _exactly_ what was wrong but keep it a big friggin' secret, so he ultimately decided to give Six a second of time away from him to clear her mind of whatever was bugging her. Thumbing his phone, he opened up the internet and started surfing the local news to see if there was any weird stories that might give a hint to where the next Loric was hiding.

"She's not coming back." Six's voice suddenly cut into the air after a few minutes of reading.

"What?"

"Emily, that's who your texting right? She's not coming back, that guy was way too hott."

Shaking his head, Sam couldn't help but smile, he wasn't even sure Six was _trying_ to be mean this time, she was just a born natural at it. "Thank you for the reminder that almost all guys are better than me Six, but I was searching the local news in case this Loric accidentally slipped up and there was a weird story or something."

"Ohhh," Six said in a mocking tone, making an impressed face at him, "waste of time tho, we Loric's don't do dumb shit like that."

"You and John literally blew up an entire school."

"Silence," she replied with a genuine smile, "and not all guys are better than you," she continued, standing directly in front of him, hands in her back pockets, "just better looking." she finished with a wide grin. "Now come on, we are burning daylight."

Sam flushed pink in his cheeks but Six had already turned around. Jamming his phone in his pocket, Sam started to follow when he heard Six's voice float into the air ahead of him on the path.

"Oh my GOSH they are so PRETTY!"

Sam almost burst out laughing, it was quite seriously the girly-est thing he had ever heard Six say, and with almost a squeak in her voice! Hurrying his steps he fully planed on being on the fun side of picking on someone when he spotted Six through a small crowd of people, a wonderfully colorful parrot on her shoulder. Her beaming smile practically making her glow, she was excitedly talking about something with the man next to her, another parrot in his hand. She had never looked more beautiful than in this serene moment of happiness for her. Sam's mouth went a little dry and he felt his heartbeat quicken, _This is the girl you are trying to get Sam, she's not just out of your league, you're not even playing the same sport, quit kidding yourself._

"Sam," she called, jarring him from his self abuse, "Sam come here quick," she pleaded, frantically motioning him to come over.

"Yeah?"

"Give this guy twenty bucks so he can take a picture of me with this badass bird." she said, smile never leaving her face.

The man gave Sam a questioning look as he glanced from Six back to Sam again.

"We arn't dating," Sam clarified to the unasked question as he took out his wallet and handed the man a twenty. The man put his hands up defensively and walked past Sam to take a picture of Six.

The parrot had started to play with a few loose strands of blonde hair in front of Six's face and she would not stop giggling about it, _giggling_. Sam stood in astonishment at the girlish Six that had suddenly replaced the badass alien shit stomper he knew all too well.

Six glanced over and saw Sam staring, causing her to blush a deep shade of red. _And now she's blushing, what the hell is going on_. The man walked forward and traded the picture for the parrot and Six proudly walked over to Sam, presenting the picture.

"Backpack, and if you tell John or Sarah about this, I'll kick your smart ass." she said, but there was no venom to her voice. Sam actually laughed.

"You don't need the excuse."  
"Haha too true too true," she murmured, unzipping a pocket and placing the photo in it.

"Hey I didn't get to see it!"

"And you never will." she replied, lightly shouldering him.

They walked in silence again,but it was different than the first time. Six was walking closer to him, like, A LOT closer. All he had to do was reach out and grab her hand! Sam was working up the courage to when Six spoke again.

"Thought you had to clarify to that guy we weren't dating?" she said with a grin.

"I was just-"

"I thought it would have been obvious." she continued off-hand, once again looking away from Sam down some of the less used paths.

"Ah, that's what you meant." Sam said in a defeated tone.

"What's that tone for?" Six asked, turning back around and stopping next to Sam.

Sam stopped, what _had_ he meant? "I don't think there was a tone." he replied with a forced laugh, trying to play it off. Six's hand shot out and grabbed his wrist, turning him towards her. Their eyes met, he penetrating gaze searching his eyes.

"There was a tone."

"I don't-" Sam started,he really didn't have a response, he didn't know why he had said it like that, and he _really_ didn't know why Six was so interested. She was going to beat his ass if she found out what a crush he had on her.

She studied him for a moment longer and let out a small sigh, starting to turn away. Suddenly John's voice, as if descending from the heavens to save him, screamed in his mind. _Just get it over with he says, then let's get it over with_. Sam suddenly found a backbone he didn't even know he possessed, and grabbed Six's shoulder, turning her back towards him. Six's startled face was only a foot or so away as Sam took a step forward. Her face did one of the most beautifully confusing things he had ever seen and if he wasn't so busy trying to kick his own ass into doing this, he would have liked to study it. Six went from startled to confused to surprised to something that almost resembled fear in about a second and a half of time.

"Sam, what are you doing?" she asked quietly.

"Being assertive..." he simply replied.

Her face was inches away now, he had committed, he couldn't stop even if he wanted to, and he defiantly _didn't_ want to. His eyes were locked on hers but hers kept flicking from his eyes to his lips and back again.

"What does that mean?" she whispered, eyes slowly closing.

"I have no friggin' idea." Sam responded, licking his lips.

The next moment seemed to take years while at the same time taking seconds, as he leaned in half expecting to feel a solid fist in his face. Instead he felt what might be described as pure electricity as the heat from her breath rolled across his face. Suddenly he felt something soft on his nose and realized their noses were touching, their noses were freaking touching and Six wasn't busy beating his ass. Slowly, painfully slowly his lips touched hers, sending the warmest, fuzziest, scariest feeling in the world to every part of his body. _Fuck it, I'm here, let's do it, _ he thought as he pulled gently on her shoulder, as he actually applied pressure to the kiss.

Sam suddenly felt the rest of his body, not just that her lips were on his, and realized she had grabbed a hold of his shirt with both hands and was softly pulling. His mind was racing with so much unimportant shit it was hard for him to keep track of his thoughts. _Don't breath out of your mouth, in nose out nose, evenly evenly, I wonder if lipstick 'tastes', she smells like french vanilla, I would have thought something more deadly, I never realized we were the same height. _Suddenly, he was thrown backwards as Six roughly pushed him.

"Sam what the hell are you doing?" she yelled, breathing heavily.

Sam was dumbstruck, "I...I'm sorry I didn't mean-" he started stammering, trying to think of anything that would get him out of an ass whooping that was, now, very clearly unavoidable. That's when he actually looked at Six. She didn't look angry, not at all. She looked...hungry. _This is either really good or really bad_, Sam thought right before she crossed the two steps of intervening space, grabbed him by the collar, yanking him towards her, lips crashing together again.


	7. Chapter 7

_**SIX – FUTURE**_

"I wonder when Nine and Monica are going to wander out here onto the lawn naked," John said in between sips of beer, "should be any time now, the fireworks are over."

Six glanced at John and let out a large smile. Nine's antics were stuff of legend around their house, and one of the sure-fire ways to make Six smile. She rolled the empty can in her hand a few times, grunting loudly at John. "I'm empty brother." she said to John, smiling sweetly.

"Oh don't give me the innocent look, I'm not your slave," John replied with a laugh, "but you're lucky I always think ahead." he continued, reaching out with his hand.

Six could feel the tingle of energy as she sensed John using his telekinesis and she leaned back, rolling her head around she spotted a small, blue cooler drifting across her room and out her window, coming to rest gently next to her and John. Cracking the lid, she snagged a random can and pulled it out, letting the cool can on her hand contrast the heat from the night. "Sam Adams Nitro? Good call." she remarked, reading the label.

"Six, we have been living together for years, we hang out every day, I think it's safe to assume I know what you like to drink."

Six shook her head ruefully as John slid the cooler closer to him with his powers, she loved this, she missed this, she needed this. "John," she said hesitantly, "how do you feel when we talk about him?"

John sat in silence for several minutes. The void went on for so long that Six began to wonder if she had upset him. She risked a glance over at John who looked deep in thought. After several more moments John loudly exhaled and tossed his can off the roof, it exploding into flame and reduced to ash before it hit the ground.

"Sam was my best friend, and, in a very serious way, might be the entire reason we were even able to start the fight, let alone finish it. I'm not just talking about when he pulled you out of the burning school and then fought that Mogodorian while you injured," Six winced at the memory, "I mean he and Zach did...whatever the hell they did. To get the military involved."

"To be fair that was probably more Zach."

"Not really," John continued, "Zach has said on more than one occasion that he was essential."

"You didn't answer the question, how do you feel?" Six pressed.

A loud pop went off as John opened another can. "Sad, Six, I feel sad. I like talking about him, it makes me smile but it also hurts in my chest," John explained pressing his fingers to his heart, "I can only imagine how you must feel."

Six leaned forward in thought, resting her elbows on her knees. "I loved him John, I still do..."

"Yeah I know you do, I remember what it was like the first time we thought we lost him. You were like a hormonal nightmare."

Six smiled again, she remembered, she remembered all too well.

_**FLASH**_

"Clubbing?" Sam asked incredulously.

"Think of it like exploring the night life of San Diego." John replied, gesturing in the air with his hands.

"That's what I said, clubbing." Sam said, flopping down and sinking himself into the bed, "I'm real glad we keep going right to my forte all the time. Definitely right up my wheel house."

"Quite your whining Nancy, we are leaving in fifteen minutes," John looked as his friend and wondered where all this negativity was coming from. Sam sullenly stared at the ceiling as John sat down on the bed next to him. "What happened at the zoo brother?" Sam's face immediately began to color red and John's eyes widened, "What did you do with Six, Sam?"

"Nothing! Nothing happened at all! We might have, like, I don't know, kissed a little, maybe?" Sam finally said sheepishly. If you didn't know what was happening in the room, one might think a cannon went off.

"WHAT!?" John practically screamed, "When? Where? Did she mean to?" he asked at a million mils an hour, "Did she hit you after?" he continued with a wink.

"Douche, no she didn't hit me," Sam said, rising from the bed and pushing John off, onto the ground, "And yes she meant to, I think." he finished with a laugh. John sat up and continued looking at Sam, gesturing for him to go on. "Fine," he conceded, lazily sitting down at the table in the hotel room, and told his friend exactly how he had decided to man up and make the move on Six.

"Damn," John exhaled, "Dude, that takes some serious balls, why don't you want to go out tonight? I mean we have a good way to get in, Six is going to make us invisible and it's no big deal."

"Just nervous I guess," Sam said uncomfortably, "What if she was just in the heat of the moment or something and doesn't even want to see me."

"I'm dismissing this as you being a complaining, high-school bitch and am not even going to bother assuring you she likes you. What happened to the man in that story you just told me?" John said, "Clubbing, you know what that is right? Girls move all their curvy parts. Let's use Six for example since, well, since she is going to dance with you," as John kept going Sam's face got whiter and he looked more and more nervous but John plowed on, "So Six," John explained sarcastically, using his hands while he talked, "Is going to take you, put her ass on you, and move around probably to some heavy bass beat. This is a good thing Sam, a good thing."

Sam was about to respond when a loud bang on the door caused him to jump out of the chair.

"Let's go losers! The ladies are somehow ready to go before you!" came Six's muffled voice.

With a look from John, Sam got to his feet, took a deep breath, and grabbed his wallet and coat.

The night had seemed to drag on with no real hope of helping in their quest. The late San Diego air remained dry with a tinge of heat that didn't seem to ease with the sun descending. The packed streets were difficult to navigate and the constant bumping had started to get on Sam's nerves. He cocked his head up and looked a the two story club they had stopped outside of, the seventh one that night.

"So, anyone else gonna say this has been pointless?" Sam asked, drawing an eye roll from Six and a nudge from John.

"Alright we got the drill down guys," Sarah said in a disarming tone, "Six takes me in, then John, then Sam, let's roll!" and with that, she and Six slid into a nearby alley and disappeared.

"So," John began but Sam cut him off.

"No I haven't made a move on Six, other than grabbing me to take me inside she hasn't touched me once and barely talked to me."

John looked at his crestfallen friend and clapped him on the shoulder. "Well dude, she isn't going to do the leg work for you! Tell you what, you get in there this time, she takes you last right? So just grab her by the hand out here for her to use her legacy on you, and then never let go, get in there and then go straight to the dance floor, pull her if you have to."

Before Sam could respond he heard Six's voice cut through the crowd and he and John both turned to see her waving John to the alley. "Just do it man, the scary part is over, show her you are still forceful." and with that, John knifed through the crowd, grabbed hold of Six's shoulder and disappeared.

Sam gave it a minute and then made his own way to the alley to await Six's return. His mind raced with what to say and how to say it, where he should place his hands and when. Sam was on his tenth idea of what to say when a beautiful blonde girl appeared in front of him.

"Hey," Sam said lamely, God she smelled good.

Six didn't respond, she just continued to stare at him, raising her eybrow and crossing her arms across her chest. Sam felt his cheeks begin to heat up and he cleared his throat, shuffling his feet in his uncertainty of what to do next.

With an exasperated sight, Six threw her hands in the air and grabbed hold of Sam's shoulders, pulling him roughly towards her, crashing her lips into his in a fiery kiss. Sam instantly found his arms around her, gripping the small of her back as she pressed herself into him. A few cat calls and 'get a room' came from the mouth of the alley but Sam barely noticed, awkwardly shuffling his feet forward until he felt Six's back against the wall. A small moan escaping from Six was all that brought him crashing back to reality.

"Holy shit, Sam," Six said breathlessly, "if you can kiss like that then what the hell are you taking so long to show me for?"

"I just-" Sam began but Six placed her hand over his mouth.

"Shut up, we have work to do, John and I both felt something...strange...in there. Honestly it might be another Loric. Work now, french later, okay?" Six said with a small smile, grabbing Sam's hand and pulling him, invisibly, towards the entrance.

The first few times they had done this, Sam had been nervous he was going to bump into someone, but after all the practice he had gotten at all the other places they had snuck in to, it wasn't anywhere near as hard. Ducking around the bouncer and avoiding a few stumbling drunks, he followed Six up the stairs, and down behind the bathrooms near the door to the kitchen where she let go, revealing him.

"Follow me," she said simply as she cut her way back towards the club area, rendezvousing with John and Sarah at the end of the bar. Sarah flashed a smile at them but John continued staring towards the other side of the bar. "She hasn't moved then?" Six asked towards John, who shook his head while continuing to look.

"When Sarah and I came in here I was getting a very weird feeling from that girl over there, and when John came in he got the same feel." Six explained to Sam, "We are thinking that might be our Loric."

Sam glanced across the bar himself. The girl was older than them, probably in here legally, and her long black hair was down over her shoulders that she constantly kept flipping shile talking to the man next to her. She was wearing a red party dress that barely made it halfway down her thigh and was visibly on the wrong side of too many drinks.

"So, do we just go up to her then? Tail her or something, maybe?" Sam asked, not really knowing how to approach the situation.

As he was asking his question, the man got up and passed by them, heading into the bathroom hall. Six pinched Sam's elbow.

"Tail him," she hissed, "John and I are going to head over and talk to her." Six gave Sam a little push towards the bathrooms, "Go." she mouthed, turning around to talk to John.

Sam turned the corner in time to see the man disappearing into the kitchen, and Sam jogged to the door himself to peak in. No sooner had he cracked open the door than a hand shot around the frame, grabbed hold of his shirt, and tanked him into the kitchen. Sam barely had time to react as he was smashed against the wall and felt cold metal resting against his head. It was a pistol being pressed against his skull, the man sitting with the woman was holding it. He looked pissed.

"Who are you, and why are you following us? Are you have aliens? You have to the count of three."


End file.
